Saudi Arabia has announced new details of an official move to boost its cultural landscape, introducing 11 new cultural councils to oversee the country's food, theatre, design, architecture, art and film scenes.
Saudi's Ministry of Culture announced the names of the new commissions in a tweet, saying they are "part of a wider transformation plan that will enrich the Saudi cultural sector".
The 11 new bodies are: Museums Commission, Visual Arts Commission, Culinary Arts Commission, Architecture and Design Commission, Theatre and Performing Arts Commission, Film Commission, Music Commission, Fashion Commission, Libraries Commission, Heritage Commission and the Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission.
Each will have their own financial and administrative independence.
The organisations' roles and responsibilities would be to license activities in each sector, implement strategies and review laws and regulations, encourage funding and investment across the board, and help protect intellectual property rights.
Each commission would also develop educational programmes and scholarships, organise conferences and special exhibitions and co-operate with both regional and international cultural organisations.
The new bodies will be overseen by Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah, who tweeted that "this is the beginning of a new and important stage in the history of our culture", thanking the country's leadership "for their support of culture and intellectuals".
The cultural scenes of the country have already seen a boost thanks to the 'seasons' events taking over each city: with three-day dance music festival MDL beast in Riyadh creating a "shock and awe effect" that drew a crowd of 200,000; and with Al Ula's Winter At Tantora event bringing in names such as Andrea Bocelli and Yanni.
The film industry saw an initial boost when a movie theatre opened in Riyadh for the first time in 35 years back in April 2018. It's forecast that around 45 movie theatres will be open in Saudi by the end of this year, and the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah this March will strengthen the independent movie scene not just in the country, but in the region.
On the TV front, on Tuesday it was announced that MBC, based primarily in Dubai, would set up a headquarters in Riyadh's new Media City project.
Saudi Arabia has been going through a transformation of its economy under Vision 2030, an overarching social and economic agenda driven by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Weaning its economy off oil, part-privatising state entities and opening its non-oil sector for investment are among the key pillars of Saudi Arabia’s reform programme.
